Born in Kanagawa in 1978, film director Hamaguchi is based in Kobe. After graduating from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Letters and working in films as an assistant director and AD on TV programs, in 2006 he enrolled in the Department of Film Production at the Graduate School of New Media, Tokyo University of Fine Arts. His degree work was PASSION (2008). Sakai, also a film director, was born in 1979 in Nagano, and is currently based in Tokyo. Turning his hand to filmmaking while at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, on graduation he worked before entering the Graduate School of New Media, Tokyo University of Fine Arts to study film production in 2005. His graduation film was creep (2007). Nami no oto (The sound of waves) (2011) was a documentary jointly directed by the pair consisting of interviews with victims of the Tohoku Earthquake, and its structure, a conversational format in which victims discuss their experiences with each other while recalling how things were at the time, using shots capturing the people face on, encourages the viewer to consciously listen, and thus achieves an originality that makes it a film one experiences, rather than just watches. The project continues, with Utau hito, Nami no koe: Kesennuma, and Nami no koe: Shinchi, all completed in 2013.

HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke+SAKAI Ko　Ｔｈｅ　Ｓｏｕｎｄ　ｏｆ　Ｗａｖｅｓ　2011 courtesy of the artist